Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the review of SUSI and I am glad to hear that it will be on his desk by Christmas. It is important that it is published immediately so that things can come into effect for next year. The Minister can see how people get lost in the millions and millions, double counting of figures and all that. People feel they are left behind in all of the millions. In July, as part of the package for the safe return to campus, the Minister announced an extra €10 million in financial supports for students and €3 million for mental health services on campus. A similar announcement was made in the same week as the budget last month. I welcomed these commitments at the time because I know the difficulty many students are facing. It now seems that instead of the €10 million extra that was announced there will be €1 million less than last year in the student assistance fund for this year. Instead of the €3 million in additional funding on mental health services, there will be no increase at all. Six colleges, Technical University Dublin, Munster Technical University, Waterford Institute of Technology, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow, will receive less this year for mental health services than last year. Students need clarity on this.

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